Archives for September 2005

‘It’s Sunday, week 2 of the NFL season, and there are 200+ Bills fans shouting for joy inside the Harp, home of the Bills Backers Boston chapter. Josh Reed has just made a nice catch. The place erupts. Passersby on the street are surprised to see a happy mass of buffalo-bedecked fans yelling and clapping, eyes glued to the TV sets and drinks in hand. Surely the spontaneous burst of applause and delight signaled some great feat on the gridiron, but sadly it did not.’

‘The hamstring injury that caused Falcons’ quarterback Michael Vick to come out during the final two drives of Sunday’s 21-18 loss to Seattle could keep him out of this weekend’s game at Buffalo.’

‘”In my eight-year career, I’ve never come out of a game based on an injury,” said Fletcher, one of the NFL’s leading run stuffers, who left Sunday’s game late in the second quarter, just as Cadillac’s engine was starting to warm up. “As you can imagine, it hurt. It hurt a lot, especially to see them run the ball on us. I take responsibility in the run-stopping aspect of the game, and not to be able to help out, well, it doesn’t feel good at all.”‘

‘Mularkey and general manager Tom Donahoe like to steal from their beloved Steelers, but copy-catting the Roethlisberger blueprint is living in fantasy land. What we saw on Sunday is more the norm for young QBs in the NFL. Get out your yo-yos.’

‘But Losman will be alright. I thought he had all the right “stuff” when the Bills drafted him, and nothing has changed my mind.’

‘Troy Vincent said it best on Monday, it was a backyard brawl and we were punched in the mouth. The test now for the Bills do they stay down, or dust themselves off get back up and fight again.’

‘Fletcher injured a hamstring in the second quarter of the Bills 19-3 loss to the Bucs. He claims to be a fast healer and hasn’t missed a game in his eight year career.’

‘"It was frustrating. I’m upset about it," Losman said. "It’s like you’ve been punched in the mouth."’

‘Williams did not return after hurting his left ankle in the third quarter Sunday. Coach Mike Mularkey said he’ll know more about Williams’ status when the team returns to practice on Wednesday.’

‘…we’ve attempted to throw downfield. When you throw it downfield you have to drop deeper and if the defense is blitzing you have to make "hot" throws because of the blitz. That’s what happened Sunday. Long throws are in the plan.’

‘We don’t really feel that our efforts to develop J.P. Losman are sacrificing the future of the team. While Sunday’s game was not what any of us wanted, the blame should not be placed totally on the quarterback. The only way a player at any position becomes productive in this league is by playing. Last week, after JP’s performance against Houston, some people wanted to canonize him. We have to be patient with any of our young players to give them the opportunity to develop.’

‘Coach Al Cavagnaro of Starpoint High School has been named the Buffalo Bills High School Football “Coach of the Week” for the third weekend of the 2005 season (September 16-17).’

‘”We played against a good football team that was better than us today,” Bills coach Mike Mularkey said. “Maybe it’s a wake-up call for us.”‘

‘Granted, the Bills’ offense, which held the ball for only 21 minutes, 10 seconds as compared to Tampa Bay’s 38:50, didn’t help give the Buffalo defense much of a rest by continually going three-and-out, but the defense didn’t help its own cause. The Bills’ defense talked about helping out young quarterback J.P. Losman by creating turnovers and giving the offense some good field position. But that’s all it was — talk.’

‘Bills MVP: Um, Lindell made his only kick.’